The first major revival of David Hirson's Olivier Award-winning comedy LA BÊTE starring Tony and Olivier Award winner Mark Rylance, Tony and Emmy Award winner David Hyde Pierce, and BAFTA Award winner (and star of "Absolutely Fabulous") Joanna Lumley will begin previews tomorrow, Thursday, September 23rd at the Music Box Theatre (239 West 45th Street) following an engagement at the Comedy Theatre in London's West End. Opening night is set for Thursday, October 14, 2010.
A popular street performer and a classical writer square off in American playwright
David Hirson's thoughtful comedy LA BÊTE. The Olivier Award-winning Best Play, written in 1990, pits high-brow against low-brow in 17th Century France when two artists vie for a royal endorsement. In our age of sensationalism and reality television, what begins as a rollicking comedy soon challenges audiences to decide for themselves: can culture be populist?
The Sunday Express calls LA BÊTE "An instant must-see!" and "a wittily audacious contemporary comedy" while Paul Levy of The Wall Street Journal raves that LA BÊTE is "Incredible! I wouldn't have missed it for the world." The Financial Times says "You should all see this play" and Variety writes "The audience is helpless with laughter." The Independent calls LA BÊTE "A virtuoso triumph for
Mark Rylance" and says
David Hyde Pierce is "A comic genius!" while BBC Radio raves "
Joanna Lumley is brilliant. She commands the stage."
Joining Rylance, Pierce, and Lumley in both London and New York are
Stephen Ouimette,
Lisa Joyce,
Greta Lee,
Robert Lonsdale,
Michael Milligan,
Liza Sadovy,
Sally Wingert,
Deanne Lorette and
Steve Routman.
The Independent is calling
Mark Rylance "our greatest living actor" for his award-winning turns in Boeing-Boeing (Tony Award), Much Ado About Nothing (Olivier Award), and most recently, Jerusalem, for which he won the Olivier, Evening Standard and Critics' Circle Best Actor awards for his performance.
David Hyde Pierce won four Emmy Awards for the role of 'Niles' on TV's "Frasier" and the 2007 Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical for Broadway's Curtains. Acclaimed comedienne and actress
Joanna Lumley is best known for playing 'Patsy Stone' in the award-winning BBC television series, "Absolutely Fabulous" for which she won two BAFTA TV awards. Lumley was awarded an OBE (Order of the British Empire) in 1995.
Tickets range from $126.50 - $76.50 and are available at www.telecharge.com and via phone at 212-239-6200.
LA BÊTE is produced by
Scott Landis &
Sonia Friedman Productions,
Roger Berlind,
Robert G. Bartner/
Norman Tulchin,
Bob Boyett/
Tim Levy,
Roy Furman,
Max Cooper,
Dan Frishwasser,
Bud Martin,
Philip Morgaman/Frankie J. Grande, and
Stephanie P. McClelland/Hagemann-Rosenthal in association with 1001 Nights and
Richard Winkler, and designed by
Mark Thompson, with lighting by
Hugh Vanstone, music by
Claire van Kampen, and sound by
Simon Baker.
www.labetetheplay.com
